


Inspirational

by GuyBlackhand



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-08-31 22:10:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8595772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuyBlackhand/pseuds/GuyBlackhand
Summary: The last thing Victor expected was for Yuuri Katsuki, of all people, to inspire him.





	1. Prologue and Episode 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 12/7/16.

The last thing Victor expected was for Yuuri Katsuki, of all people, to inspire him. Naturally he knew of Japan’s so-called ‘late bloomer’ before that video went viral. At the top level the professional figure skating world was very small, after all. They all met one another sooner or later.

So yes, he knew who Katsuki was. They’d been in the same competitions a few times even before the GPF. Yakov had pointed him out in—well, it must have been his first senior international appearance. “There’s new blood on the ice today.”

“Oh?” Victor looked over, curious. Their eyes met but the kid promptly ducked his head. “Someone interesting?”

“Yuuri Katsuki, Japanese. He’s 20.”

“Ah.” That said it all, really. “He looks younger than that. He must have worked very hard.”

“Or got lucky. Or maybe he’s an incredible talent discovered unfortunately late,” Yakov said with a shrug. “Today we’ll see which it is. How are you feeling about your quads?”

They walked off discussing his program and Victor quickly forgot about Yuuri Katsuki. He did remember the newcomer later that evening while he prepped though. Katsuki was on the ice and all the monitors were focused on his determined, youthful looking face. Though he was good, especially with his spins and step sequences, it was pretty clear he wasn’t an "incredible talent" and, as Victor watched him flub a triple axel, not even that lucky.

A hard worker then, Victor had thought. Good for him.

Victor really had been horribly short-sighted back then.

For the next three years he’d see Yuuri Katsuki’s name in the line up every now and then, and each time he would blink at it with mild surprise and slowly growing admiration. Figure skating as a sport is a race against time, and time always won. Every year you got older and older while the competition only got younger, sharper, hungrier. Generally speaking if you don’t peak by your early 20s, you don’t peak at all. Victor took not a little pride in being one of the few exceptions to the rule, but most weren’t as fortunate as him, and if you had asked him to name someone who made their international senior debut at 20 and remained not only competitive but actually _relevant_ for more than one season, he wouldn’t have been able to give you a single one.

Except Yuuri Katsuki.

So when Victor attended Skate Canada as a VIP after winning Skate America and they happened to bump into each other just before Katsuki took to the ice for his free skate, he made a point to wish him good luck. Katsuki had seemed awkward and nervous, but later ended up scoring a personal best. Then later Victor learned he had won the silver in the NHK Trophy and consequently had made the cut for the Final.

And then there was the Final.

And then, later, the banquet.

And then, even later, the lobby. To this day Victor regrets how flippant he was. It had been a miscalculation on his part. He was still remembering the banquet the previous night and the fun they’d had; he hadn’t considered that Yuuri was obviously _not_ thinking of the same things. His energy was so dull that he didn’t look at all like the sexy whirlwind who had practically made love to Victor on the dance floor the night before and who _had_ made love to a dance pole. Victor wanted to apologize as soon as he realized his mistake, but by then Yuuri was already halfway across the room and to bring further attention to him would have been unspeakably cruel.

If he had stayed, Victor would have told him what he was thinking: that he hoped to dance with him again at Worlds.

When Victor didn’t see Yuuri at all for the rest of the season, he surprised himself by being genuinely disappointed. It was frankly ridiculous; he had never even had an actual, _sober_ conversation with the man. One admittedly hot dance-off and tango did not a relationship make. Nevertheless, the disappointment was there, and it was another drop in the bucket of general dissatisfaction that Victor hadn’t noticed had filled up and up and up until it upended itself on his head while he sat at the post-Worlds press conference, with all the world watching, and he suddenly realized he was completely and utterly _bored out of his mind_.

He tried to shake it off by choreographing his program for the next season, by needling Yuri to work on his expression and not just his jumps, by annoying the hell out of Yakov, by having a fling with the latest prima ballerina from the St. Petersburg Ballet. The usual things. But nothing worked.

Until that video went viral.

 _Looks like you have a fan! Lololol,_ Mila had tweeted him, with the video linked next to the laughing-crying face emoji.

The first time Victor saw that video it took his breath away.

Yuuri was wearing sweatpants, was clearly out of shape, wasn’t even skating to music and yet Victor had never seen that program, _his_ program, performed with such heartrending beauty.

Seeing it was like having color put back into his world.

Yuuri had elevated his choreography to something that Victor himself had not able to achieve. He created music with his body alone.

Then he realized that no one, _no one else in the whole world_ , could see what he was seeing in Yuuri’s performance. They were so busy laughing and making fun of him and dismissing him out of hand that they were all blind to it. No one could see it. No one understood. No one _had_ understood, not even Victor, not until now.

Yuuri Katsuki was not an incredible talent discovered unfortunately late.

Yuuri Katsuki was an incredible talent who was never discovered at all.

The thought left him reeling, but though a hazy determination was already taking shape inside his mind, grown from a seed sown months before by Yuuri himself, Victor had to be sure that he was right. He played the video a few more times, divorced himself from the giddiness of what this could mean—for him, for Yuuri, for the whole sport—and watched it with objective eyes, the eyes of a coach. But he wasn’t wrong. Somehow Yuuri Katsuki really had made it all the way to the Grand Prix Final without having tapped into a portion of his true potential.

Amazing.

Victor realized he had to move fast: if he wanted Yuuri ready and competitive for the season he had to go _now_.  So he went on social media, announced he was sitting out the next season to coach Yuuri, took his dog to the vet to get him cleared for international travel, and hired people to start packing up his house. Somewhere in there Yakov screamed himself hoarse—which if anybody had asked Victor would have said made the whole decision worth it, haha—the entire professional skating world believed he was joking, and Yuuri Katsuki invaded his fantasies. Again.

Victor actually had almost taken Yuuri to bed the night of the banquet. In the end, he’d decided against it because Yuuri really was just that drunk, so Victor had very regretfully and very responsibly surrendered him to his coach at the end of the night without so much as a kiss. That didn’t mean, however, that Victor did not have a lot of fun afterward imagining what could have been. But by the time Worlds had come around, the memory of the GPF banquet was just that, a memory, and he had mostly forgotten how… impressive Yuuri had been. But this, now, was a different Yuuri that he imagined as he fucked his fist in the shower before he left for his flight to Japan, picturing all the while that it was Yuuri’s mouth he was thrusting into. Yuuri would look just like he did in the video, Victor decided, his face a study in wistful devotion and yearning as his tongue fluttered around Victor’s cock. He would be clumsy and sweet and Victor would press his thumbs against pink lips stretched wide, would murmur soft words of praise, would watch Yuuri take in more of his length. Yuuri would look up right then and those expressive eyes would be pleading, imploring Victor to show just how much Yuuri pleased him and Victor would do it, would come right there inside his mouth and he’d feel Yuuri’s tongue working, trying to swallow it all down—

Victor grunted as he shot all over the tile, pressing his forehead against the cool surface as he waited for the aftershocks to subside. This was, of course, probably a bit inappropriate. However, he had also just come harder from a simple fantasy than he ever did with Irina the prima ballerina and Victor had accepted a long time ago that he was, at heart, an impulsive hedonist. So it turned out that he was going to Japan not just to take Yuuri Katsuki as his student, but also to take him as his lover. He’d finally get to know just how strong those thighs of his would grip his waist during sex.

Victor felt more excited now than he did when he stood center rink at the World Championships, gold medal in hand.

He wondered how long it would take to get Yuuri in his bed. A week? A day?

He couldn’t wait to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caveat lector: Anything I know about figure skating, professional or otherwise, I learned from YOI episodes and some quick googling.


	2. Episode 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 12/7/16.

Victor was so used to people wanting to sleep with him that for Yuuri _not_ _to_ came a bit as a surprise. Yes, Yuuri wanted him as a coach, that was of course a forgone conclusion as Yuuri himself had said it, but Victor hadn’t detected a single flicker of desire in his eyes when he stood in front him bare as the day he was born. Which was entirely unexpected, based on previous experience. But Victor was not a child; he understood that alcohol made people behave very differently than they normally do. It seemed that Yuuri was simply a lot more modest when he didn’t have an entire bottle of champagne in him. This was a difficulty he had not considered, but Victor was certain he could easily clear the hurdle if he put some effort into it.

You didn’t get to be the best in the world by not having a healthy amount of confidence in yourself, after all.

But maybe he came on a smidge too strong that first day.

Truth be told, he hadn’t been 100% sure how well it was going to go, this almost but not quite spur-of-the-moment life change of his. That Victor would be an exceptional coach, _that_ Victor took for granted, but on the matter of his other objective... Victor figured the best case scenario was that Yuuri would amuse and delight him on the rink and in his bed for a year, but there was also the possibility that the reality of Yuuri wouldn’t live up to the promise of their dance. It wasn’t likely, because Victor knew first hand that Yuuri was capable of generating a magnificent amount of sex appeal and passion, and Victor himself was easy going enough that he was able to have fun with a wide variety of partners and personalities. Nonetheless he would be the first to admit while he knew something of Yuuri the skater, one drunken night at a party did not mean he knew anything of Yuuri the person, and so there was a chance that the real Yuuri would actually turn out to be annoying, or even worse, boring.

Thankfully the worst did not come to pass and Yuuri was truly charming and adorable in every way.

Unfortunately the best case scenario did not come to pass either and Victor was consequently in the extremely unenviable position of discovering, for the first time in his entire life, what it was like to want someone who seemed oblivious to all his advances.

It would be one thing if Yuuri had been opposed, or even offended, by Victor happily smashing past all his professional and personal boundaries. Victor had experience in seducing the reluctant. But instead it was as if Yuuri was completely unaware of his body outside of his sport, and outside of having drunk enough liquor to float a small boat. There was no vanity in him, not even the ordinary pride people carried in being considered by others as physically, read: sexually, attractive.

Victor had to admit it was an extremely intriguing challenge, to discover how and why Yuuri came to be this way. And how he, Victor, could be the first to overcome all his barriers and inhibitions and finally unleash the promise hidden inside him.

He did always love a good challenge.

Victor was well aware that he got away with a lot by being thought of as an eccentric genius. Apparently this included being able to ask all sorts of invasive and personal questions as long as he attached the phrase ‘as your coach’ somewhere in there. If Yakov had ever asked Victor who his ex-lovers were Victor would have cheerfully told him to go to hell.

But it turned out that the Gordian knot that was Yuuri’s professional career _was_ all tangled up with his personal life. It seemed—and this realization left Victor a bit stunned when he figured it out—that Yuuri had for some reason turned to _figure skating_ to hide himself from the world. A sport that many would argue existed only to marry pure athletic skill with the art of expressing oneself, and to look beautiful while doing it. Victor hadn’t thought it was possible to hide one’s true self as a professional figure skater but somehow Yuuri managed it, and did such a good job that even his family and closest friends had absolutely no idea what talent, what gift, he was hiding.

Though perhaps it shouldn’t be that surprising considering that Yuuri himself didn’t know just how good he was, how good he could be.

Minako Okukawa was for the most part an insightful person, but she was dead wrong about Yuuri’s talent. No amount of practice could propel an ordinary person to the Grand Prix Final, not without a fair bit of brilliance mixed in there.

Victor had pulled together all of Yuuri’s old performances, all the way back to his very first official junior competition, and the amount of professional frustration he felt at seeing Yuuri’s potential wasted had him snuggling Maccachin just to regain his equilibrium. Even Yuuri’s _coaches_ constantly underestimated him. Here and there were flashes of Yuuri’s brilliance, how in the world did they not see it? Had they all been blind?

Though Victor supposed he could forgive them since in the end they were instrumental in bringing Yuuri to this point, when the timing was right in both their lives and Victor could now take full advantage. Still, he had expected more from Yuuri’s last coach. Victor was sure to pay him back for mismanaging Yuuri one day.

In the meantime, he had to be careful not to mismanage Yuuri himself.

Victor had already decided that for his short program Yuuri will be performing _Eros_. He made the decision back when Yuuri so adorably admitted that he did not currently have a lover, and that there were no ex-lovers either. Which, if Victor had understood that right, meant that Yuuri was in fact a unicorn that had taken human form.

A 23-year-old professional male figure skater who under the right conditions could move his body like sin personified, and who was also likely a virgin.

It was starting to feel like Yuuri was put on this earth specifically to constantly surprise Victor and test his self-control.

In any case, it was only fitting that Yuuri claim _Eros_ considering the initial inspiration for the program had come from Yuuri himself, from that tango they shared and his “dance off” with Chris. And where exactly did he learn how to pole dance?

But the problem would be to motivate Yuuri to give his all on _Eros_. If Victor simply assigned him the piece as _fait accompli_ Victor would be no better than all those past coaches, forcing him to perform without making him feel truly invested in the program.

What Victor needed was a catalyst. And to get that, he had had to shatter their little haven away from the world. He hadn’t been sure what the world was going to bring them, when he started actively tweeting from Hasetsu, but he thought that for it to have been Yuri—er, Yurio—was the best possible outcome.

A rival was exactly what Yuuri needed as it gave him the one thing Victor couldn’t as a coach: competition.

He should have known Yurio would go straight for the jugular, but the idea of an impromptu face-off with Victor himself as the prize was so much fun that he couldn’t resist going along with it. And he certainly couldn’t argue with the results.

“With you… I want us to eat katsudon together,” Yuuri declared with a determination so pure it was virtually selfless. Victor couldn’t look away from him. “I’ll give it all the eros I’ve got!”

Reality rarely lived up to fantasy. But Victor had the feeling that the reality of Yuuri would far, far outshine any fantasy.

This, he thought for the first time, could be dangerous.


	3. Episode 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 12/7/16

_In vino, veritas_. And in Yuuri’s case, apparently being on the ice had a similar effect, as well.

In hindsight, Victor shouldn’t have been surprised that he would finally feel that telltale spark of attraction, of _want_ , from Yuuri while in the rink. It was as if Yuuri felt more grounded, more stable and comfortable in his skin, when balancing on two thin blades over a sheet of frozen water than when standing on solid ground. Unlike every other time in recent memory, he didn’t run away, skitter, or flinch when Victor invaded his personal space and touched him. Their faces had been so close Victor could feel Yuuri’s breath shiver in the air between them, and yet Yuuri’s skates never wavered. And his lips were so very soft.

While Victor had told Yuuri to discover ‘eros’ for himself, Victor already knew that he was capable of it: sexy dances aside, Yuuri at that moment had trembled with such innocent, nascent desire that it removed any doubt at all. Though whether one week would be enough time for him to properly express that in a performance was another question entirely.

 _Katsudon,_ of all things. Well, Victor supposed Yuuri had to start somewhere. He had a bit of a moment where he wondered if it was really fair of him to lust after and have designs on someone so wholly naïve and inexperienced… But then Victor remembered how delicious Yuuri had looked when his body had quivered with a tension he perhaps didn’t yet understand, and then further remembered how he had looked holding himself aloft on a pole using only the strength of his thighs, and there went all his good intentions flying out the window, never to be seen again.

He wondered what Yuuri would have done had they been alone, with no one to stop Victor from fulfilling the promise of those lips. If Yuuri had stayed perfectly still, eyes wide and unblinking, as Victor dipped his head and kissed him, nudging his lips apart for Victor’s tongue to gently lick inside his mouth. Would heat have instantly ignited between them, Yuuri grabbing at Victor’s sweatshirt with greedy fingers—

No. It would have been a slow burn instead: Yuuri trembling like a leaf in his arms and Victor supporting him, pulling his body flush against his. Yuuri’s hands fluttered between them, uncertain, while Victor’s slipped under his jacket and shirt to find smooth, warm skin.

“Victor!” Yuuri stammered, lips red and spit slick from Victor’s kisses.

“I’m just trying to help you find your eros,” Victor said, pushing off the ice and skating both of them toward the edge of the rink. “As your coach,” he continued earnestly, “it’s my responsibility to help you in any way I can.”

Yuuri squeaked as his back hit the rink barrier and Victor crowded him against it, planting his skates on the ice and his arms on either side of him. “What is eros to you, Yuuri?” he whispered, moving his leg between his. Yuuri gasped. “What makes your blood go hot and your mind go blank? When you lie down in your bed, who do you think of when you touch yourself?” Victor asked, mouthing along his jaw.

Yuuri whimpered.

“Come on. Shouldn’t I know everything about you? You can tell me,” Victor coaxed, voice low and purring. “Want me to help you out?”

“Wha—“ Yuuri yelped as Victor pressed one hand against the front of his pants. Victor felt him—already half hard—twitch obligingly. Victor kissed him, open mouthed and filthy, as he pushed his hand inside his pants. Yuuri shook, fingers clenching into Victor’s back as Victor wrapped a hand around his cock.

“Tell me,” Victor said as he began to jerk him off. “Tell me who you think about. Do you imagine them doing this to you? Touching you? Are they gentle? Rough? Tell me how you like it, Yuuri.”

“Victor,” Yuuri gasped. “Victor.”

“Hmm?”

“Y—you,” he confessed, hips stuttering now, clumsily moving in counterpoint to Victor’s hand. “I think about you.”

Yes, that’s right, Victor thought as he pumped his fist around his own cock, Yuuri would be so sweet, admitting that so desperately.

And when Victor came, it was to an image of Yuuri’s face coming prettily as he gasped out Victor’s name.

He sighed as he stared hazily up at the ceiling. He hadn’t had a chance to really indulge since Yurio arrived and took over the storage room attached to his bedroom, but he knew that both he and Yuuri were at the Ice Castle by now practicing. He hadn’t meant to oversleep, but he also didn’t get back in until past dawn.

Those old geezers could really drink, he thought fondly as he hauled himself out of bed.

\--

Up until the moment Yuuri began his performance, Victor wasn’t sure who was going to win. On paper it seemed impossible that a 23-year-old ‘late bloomer’ in the middle of a massive career slump could outperform the current Junior World Champion. However Victor already knew that Yuuri was capable of achieving the impossible; the fact that Victor had uprooted his entire life to come to Japan for the sole purpose of coaching him was proof of that. Still, the outcome of the competition between him and Yurio was by no means decided one way or another, and Victor had played no favorites during their training.

They both had so much potential and talent that it would have been criminal for Victor to give them anything less than his best. Besides, coaching them together had been a lot of fun. While Yurio gave Yuuri the incentive to really give it his all, the reverse was also true and Yurio was more diligent and motivated this past week than Victor had ever seen him in the last year. Consequently their drive and determination, their hunger to win, to get better, to meet Victor’s expectations, made them exceptional students. Also their faces when he’d ordered them to the waterfall had been absolutely hilarious.

And Victor did recognize that he owed Yurio at least this much. Promise or not, for the last year Yuri Plisetsky had borne the expectation of the entire Russian skating world as being Victor Nikiforov’s heir apparent. It was a weight that, for all his belligerent grumbling, he seemed proud to carry.

The program _Agape_ may be about unconditional love, but it was also Victor’s apology.

Because no matter how Onsen on Ice ended, Victor had no intention of letting Yuuri go.

This week—Victor’s first true week of actually being Yuuri’s coach and not just his personal trainer—had proven to him that he’d made the right decision in coming to Japan and securing Yuuri for his own.

That Yurio would be able to learn a high difficulty short program in seven days was a given: he had had the benefit of world class facilities, a top tier coach, and the perfect environment to nurture and mold his talent for years. Had Yurio _not_ been able to perform it would have been a failure of massive proportions.

Yuuri, on the other hand, not only had _not_ had any of those things, but he also hadn’t spent any significant time on the rink in months and had come into the week barely meeting Victor’s weight requirement. He was also competing against someone eight years younger than him. In effect, Yuuri had been under an enormous handicap. And yet not once did he complain that the contest was unfair to him, or to ask Victor to lower the program’s difficulty. In fact, Victor suspected it never even crossed his mind.

It was one of the things that made Yuuri so admirable.

It also told Victor that Yuuri really _did_ know that he was good enough to stand toe-to-toe against the top contenders. Just as he said: all he lacked was confidence in himself to pull it off.

Unfortunately, this was not the competition for Victor to practice his confidence giving skills. His sense of fair play wouldn’t let him give Yuuri the words he so needed to hear, not when Victor hadn’t even sent Yurio out there with a ‘good luck.’ It sorely tested him too, to have Yuuri—on his own initiative—cling to Victor and finally _ask_ him for something. Since Victor came to Hastetsu Yuuri had never behaved in any way selfish or demanding of him. But the most Victor could do was reassure him in a roundabout way… he hoped it was enough.

It was.

How could he have doubted, have worried, to have forgotten that he _did_ uproot his life to coach Yuuri? Victor had seen a brilliance in him, when he performed _Stay Close To Me_ , and Victor could see it here again with _Eros,_ the beginnings of it, of a beauty so seductive it would leave him breathless.

In the span of _hours_ Yuuri had discovered what his eros was, and then conveyed that feeling more capably than Yurio did his agape. Yuuri was truly amazing.

And now, Victor thought at the winner’s podium as he put his hand on Yuuri’s shoulder to lend him some of his strength, he could finally begin the journey he had come all the way to Japan for.

\--

“Yuuri, are you actually crying while eating katsudon?” Minako teased later as they all crowded around the Yu-topia dining hall, enjoying the celebratory meal.

“Crying from happiness, right?” Nishigori laughed.

Victor smiled around his own mouthful as Yuuri flailed at his friends. Was it just him or was tonight’s katsudon more delicious than usual?

“It’s really great that you won, Yuuri,” Yuuko mused, “but what would you have done had Yurio won instead?”

Yuuri froze up like a rock but Victor only laughed. “Oh I was never going to stop being Yuuri’s coach. If he’d lost, I just would have brought him back to Russia with me!”

After a moment of total silence, the room exploded with noise.

“What?! Yuuri, you should have lost! You could have gone to Russia!”

“Eeehh?!”

“Ah, that’s right,” Axel, Loop, and Lutz said, wide eyed with realization. “Yurio only said that Victor had to go back to Russia and become his coach.” “Not that that he had to leave Yuuri behind!” “That’s sneaky!”

Victor smiled at Yuuri’s flabbergasted expression. “Did you think I was going to give you up so easily, Yuuri?” Ah, he really did adore Yuuri’s blushes.

But it was for the best that Yuuri did win; Russia would not have been the ideal place for Yuuri to train. For that, he needed to be here in Hasetsu just like this, surrounded by the family and friends that loved him so much.


	4. Episode 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 12/7/16

Victor has been a professional figure skater for well over a decade now, and that _meant_ things.

It meant that while it was true that ever since his record breaking senior debut he has been labeled as the man to beat, he _has_ been beaten. And although his career has achieved—and stayed at—a meteoric high for the last five years, since Yakov became his coach to be precise, he knew what it felt like to fall short of the gold.

It meant that he understood how to play the _game_ , not just the sport. How to armor himself with either aloofness or friendliness—whichever the situation called for—to remain unaffected by his competition and rise above them all.

And it meant that he knew the real fight for the Grand Prix Final isn’t going to begin in the fall with the first event, but has in fact already begun right here in the start of summer, with him staring at an empty rink after getting stood up by his student _yet again_.

He thought that he had made a breakthrough with Yuuri. Ever since Onsen on Ice Yuuri was more comfortable with him, and Victor was quickly spoiled by being able to touch him all he wanted—well, almost. Yuuri may have hugged him first, but from then on it was Victor who always closed the gap between them, indiscriminately touching him in instruction or affection or both. Victor thought he could see a slowly growing awareness in Yuuri, a difference in his blushes that felt more… adult somehow. More in line with where Victor needed them to be.

Victor thought he was starting to see the re-emergence of the man who had challenged him to a dance-off so many months ago and then effectively seduced him in the middle of a ballroom.

Or maybe this was all wishful thinking in Victor’s part.

Self-awareness could be a real bother, sometimes.

Now he knew that what he thought of as a growing closeness between the two of them was just something shallow and limited. Physically they were closer than they’d ever been—though not as close as Victor wanted, of course—but it seemed that Yuuri was still keeping Victor out. Keeping himself locked away.

This was a very big problem because, Victor’s own selfish reasons aside, if Yuuri didn’t open up to him, it meant that Yuuri didn’t trust him. It meant that Victor wouldn’t be able to bring out his true talent on the ice.

Because Yuuri skates with his heart.

Yuuri’s body was like a mirror: it reflected everything he felt. _Eros_ proved that. _Stay Close to Me_ proved that. Every competition where Yuuri stumbled proved that. Whether it’s nervousness, or fear, or eros, or…

Yuuri, knowingly or not, bared his heart to the world when he performed. It’s what finally drew Victor to him, what had spurred him to follow through with the—admittedly charming—demands of a drunk man he hadn’t really known, but it’s also what kept Yuuri from becoming the best figure skater that he could be. If Victor was to unlock his true potential, Yuuri had to let him in.

It was frustrating to be pushed away, to see that talent, that brilliance, just a bit out of reach because Yuuri kept himself so guarded.

For a moment Victor felt an incredible kinship with Yuuri’s ex-coaches.

What’s worse, Victor wasn’t quite sure how to solve this. Until now, his face and his fame had made it very easy to get people to open up to him. Even the smallest hint of an interest from Victor Nikiforov made people fall over themselves to get close, to overshare and show themselves off in the hopes of securing him.

He didn’t know if he would be able to find the right words to say to Yuuri to let him in.

Maybe he should just get Yuuri drunk again. But Victor decided that would be cheating.

Thankfully Victor didn’t really have a negative bone in his body and his natural optimism asserted itself on his way back to Yu-topia. As he heard the seagulls calling in the distance, he thought perhaps it would be a good idea to go to the seashore. He and his adorable, wayward student will have their talk there.

He’ll let his instincts lead him where they will. That’s always worked for him before.

\--

So, he was in love.

In hindsight, perhaps he should have known. He wasn’t sure when or where it began, only that he gently, gently became aware of it while he sat beside Yuuri and listened to his soft, small voice express a delicate vulnerability that Victor himself had never felt. It made his heart squeeze with an almost painful warmth and as he looked out into the sea he thought: _Ah, I love this person_.

I will do everything I can for him.

I will be what he needs me to be.

I will show him my love in the only way he can understand.

I will wait for him to love me back.

Victor has never been afraid of loving someone; he had simply always loved skating more. However this feeling he had for Yuuri, it surprised him.

When did it start? When did he start falling in love with Yuuri?

Well, Victor supposed it didn’t matter. And truly, he didn’t care when or how or why it began. All he knew now was that he _was_ in love and as he has never in all his life denied his heart anything, he embraced the feeling entirely.

Victor Nikiforov loved Yuuri Katsuki. Was _in love_ with him.

Soon, Victor knew the whole world will know it too. Yuuri’s programs—the programs Victor made for him—will make sure of it.

\--

“ _Tell me_ when your feet are hurting this much,” Victor scolded as he put ointment on Yuuri’s bruised and blistering feet. They were in his room, with Yuuri lying in his bed and Maccachin a warm furry weight beside him.

“I really didn’t notice it until I took off my skates,” Yuuri said, voice contrite. Victor had been so aghast at the state of Yuuri’s feet that he’d called a taxi to take the two of them home at once, even though it was still in the middle of the day. “Victor, you know this is normal for us.”

“Yes, and Yakov got mad at me when I let this happen to my feet, too,” Victor replied as he fussed with Yuuri’s poor feet. “As your coach, I’m ordering you to stay in bed for the rest of the day, and you’re taking tomorrow off.”

“What?! But—“

“Getting the proper amount of rest is an important part of training,” Victor reminded him. “Let your body heal. We can’t risk you getting injured so close to the start of the season.”

Yuuri sighed. “Okay.” Then he yawned, snuggling into Maccachin and closing his eyes, seemingly so exhausted that he’d forgotten he wasn’t in his own bed. Victor smiled fondly. Finally he’d gotten Yuuri in his bed, though not in the way he’d envisioned it.

Still, it was a very cute picture, Victor happily thought as he brought out his phone and snapped a photo.

“Make sure Yuuri gets some rest, okay, Maccachin?” he told his dog softly as he quietly left the room.

The summer sun was still high in the sky when he arrived at the Ice Castle, and Yuuko looked up with surprise from behind the counter. “Victor! What are you doing back here? I thought you took Yuuri home.”

“I did, but it’s early so I decided to come back on my own. Is the rink still free?” Victor asked.

“It is,” Yuuko confirmed. “Getting some time in on your own? You’re a coach but I guess you’re still a figure skater first, huh,” she said, friendly and familiar. She’d stopped being so star struck of him about a couple of months ago.

Victor smiled. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not! Go right ahead,” she said, waving him off with a laugh.

Victor stepped on the ice as the first strains of _Agape_ filled the air. He went through the program perfunctorily, focused but not serious although he didn’t skip the jumps; he was only using the piece to warm up. It was just as he thought: _Agape_ was too innocent and joyfully selfless for what he needed.

He got in position as the track finished, breathing in deep. He thought of Yuuri in the brief quiet and pulled his love—newly discovered but so very deep in spite of it—into himself. As the familiar notes of _Stay Close to Me_ broke the silence, he began.

There were no lights, no cameras, no cheering crowds. He wasn’t wearing a glittering costume and he hadn’t performed this program in months. And yet.

And yet.

As his body moved, muscle memory taking over, he could feel that this performance was already different from every rendition that had come before, as if all of them had only been insipid, self-aggrandizing shadows of _this_.

Because what did he know of love before now? What did he understand of the pain, the bittersweet joy, that came from the helplessness of knowing your heart was no longer your own?

He had always been a selfish creature, often forgetful and thoughtless of even the important things.

But now he knew. As he leapt into the air, he thought of the giddy happiness he felt when Yuuri teased him, how he hammed it up just so he could laugh and blush some more as he pressed his face into the ice. As he spun, he remembered how Yuuri looked when he lost his temper, and how he looked when he finally, finally let Victor in. And as he moved across the ice, he thought _what if._

_What if Yuuri never loved me back?_

That bright flash of pain fueled the rest of his performance, and he leapt higher, spun tighter, than he ever had before. And in the end, there were no grand flourishes, and he didn’t cross his arms as though in pride. There was no room for pride here; he ended the program simply with his arms loose at his sides and his eyes closed as he tipped his face to the sky: open, vulnerable, and in love.

And as his chest heaved and his breaths came out in panting gasps he realized that here, in this unknown skating rink in a quiet seaside town in Japan, to an audience of none, he had just finished what was likely the best performance of his career.

“Oh!”

Victor’s eyes flew open, startled to see Yuuko staring at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, that was beautiful,” she said, voice hiccupping.

Victor was silent for a long time, then said, could only say, "Thank you."

Then the doors slammed open and the triplets streamed through, babbling and boisterous.

“It’s Victor!” “But where’s Yuuri?” “Hey Ma, why are you crying?”

Later, as he packed his skates and Yuuko worked behind the counter while her daughters were completely engrossed with her phone, she said, conversationally, “You know we all wondered, in the beginning, why you chose to do this. Chose to coach Yuuri-kun.” Victor frowned, but a glance told him she wasn’t even looking at him, was instead writing something in a ledger. “But I also wondered _how,_ ” she continued. “How someone could decide to move almost halfway around the world, leave everything and everyone behind on a whim. I thought to myself, wow, that’s so amazing! That’s so brave! I didn’t think that it was also a little bit sad. I always,” she rushed on, as if she knew she’d overstepped, “watched all of Yuuri-kun’s competitions. And every time I saw that it was in this incredible, foreign place, or when I thought of him studying and training all those years in Detroit, I would sometimes feel… wistful.”

Victor blinked, remembering with sudden clarity that the triplets were six years old, and Yuuko was twenty-five.

“But I think, after knowing Yuuri-kun for so long, that maybe he’s more like me,” she said gently as she watched her daughters. “Maybe he also flies higher when there’s someone to anchor him.” She smiled at him. “He’s just a bit dense, you know? But I’m sure he’ll figure it out soon.”

Victor looked at her and thought, not for the first time, how lucky Yuuri was to be surrounded by such people. “Thank you,” he said, smiling as he felt a weight lift away.

“You’re welcome,” Yuuko said, grinning. “I’m really looking forward to see Yuuri-kun this season. I’m sure he will be amazing.”

“Yes,” Victor agreed easily as he left to go home, “he will be.”


	5. Interlude: A day at the beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Maccachin, sun and sangria—what more could Victor ask for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially I had the theory that the ending credits sequence at the beach is set in the future, maybe the following summer when Victor and Yuuri's relationship is more mature, simply based on how carefree and touchy-feely Yuuri is with Victor. But of course episode 10 put the kibosh on that idea, haha. 
> 
> Please note that all previous chapters have been revised to accommodate current canon. ;)

 

“We,” Victor declared, already wearing his swim shorts and sunglasses, a towel slung over one shoulder, “are going to the beach today.”

“Uh huh,” Yuuri said, slipping his backpack on and heading for the door. “I’ll be going ahead then. I’d like to focus on the second half of my free today, please.”

“Maccachin,” Victor cheerily called out, pointing right at Yuuri. “Fetch!”

Yuuri faceplanted with a yelp as sixty pounds of poodle landed on his back, panting happily. Yuuri pushed Maccachin away and goggled back at Victor, glasses askew. “Wait. Are you actually serious?!”

“Here Vicchan—his swim trunks and the sangria!”

“Why thank you, Hiroko-san!”

“ _Victor_!!”

 --

“Yuuri,” Victor said, stretching the name in a pout. “Put sunscreen on me.” When Yuuri looked over at him, Victor arched his back to make sure his muscles were displayed _just so._

Yuuri sighed, but he was also blushing, so Victor considered it a win. “Victor, what are we doing at the beach? The competition is two weeks away.”

The competition he was referring to was the “Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu Championship.” A domestic event that Yuuri was only participating in because he had apparently performed so poorly at last year’s Nationals. Victor had already done his research on the other competitors and he had no doubt Yuuri will easily win gold by a large margin, even if he lowered the difficulty of his jumps. Victor wasn’t worried about the other competitors.

Yuuri, on the other hand, has lately been showing signs of stress that Victor wasn’t all that pleased with.

Victor’s programs for him were aggressive and Yuuri’s practice schedule reflected that. With September and his first competition just around the corner Yuuri was more focused and determined than ever, and his practice performances were sometimes so seductive and lovely they made Victor shiver, especially in those few run throughs where Yuuri got in the right mindset and would let his love shine full force. But he still wasn’t nailing his quads, especially in his free skate, and Victor knew it was bothering him. It was only natural for frustration to start creeping in for skaters in this situation and Victor had no intention of letting it set in with Yuuri, not if he can help it.

A mental ‘reset’ would be more valuable for Yuuri right now than another full day of training.

“We’re having fun, of course! Here, Yuuri, have some sangria,” Victor said, pushing a cold tumbler at him. He had four of them, just in case. He’d gotten Yuuri to wear his swim shorts by threatening to dump seawater on him, whether he was ready for it or not, but now he was just sitting beside Victor in his shorts and hoodie as they watched Maccachin dig holes in the beach.

It was a beautiful day, hot and clear, with the sky a bright blue dotted by white fluffy clouds and the sea an inviting promise.

“Sangria?” Yuuri must have wanted a break too, even if he couldn’t admit it. Victor knew that if he really didn’t want to be here he wouldn’t be. And he definitely wouldn’t be reaching for the tumbler and taking a cautious sip. “Oh! This is good!”

Victor grinned. “Isn’t it? I thought you’d like it. It’s Yakov’s recipe. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him but he’s actually very fond of fruity drinks.”

Yuuri choked on his next mouthful. “What? No way that’s hilarious!”

It was also surprisingly strong, but Victor didn’t mention that.

Thirty minutes and two tumblers gone between the two of them later, Victor was face down on his beach towel with Yuuri straddling his legs, getting a very thorough rubdown in the guise of ‘sunscreen application.’ “Victor, let’s go swim now,” Yuuri said, bending down over his back to whisper in his ear. His voice was warm but not slurred, and Victor twisted around to look at him, eyes half lidded.

“Okay Yuuri, but now it’s your turn for the sunscreen.”

“Mmm, okay,” Yuuri said, lazily stretching out as Victor made sure every inch of exposed skin was suitably protected from those harmful UV rays. “Now can we go?” he asked as soon as Victor was done.

Maccachin barked at them as if wondering the same thing and Victor laughed and dragged Yuuri up, the two of them running across warm sand to the beach.

\--

It was the most fun Victor could remember having in a while that had nothing to do with figure skating.

Yuuri was playful and relaxed as the day went on, his smiles wide and infectious as he touched Victor carelessly, roughhousing with him in the sea and rubbing his hair under the beach shower as they rinsed off sand and salt. And when the sun was going down and the air was cooling, they put on the change of clothes they’d brought with them and played tag with Maccachin.

Victor had visited many different beaches all over the world, and most of them people would consider objectively more beautiful than this. But he didn’t think any of those luxury beaches would ever come close to how fond he has grown of Hasetsu’s. “You know,” Victor said as they picked up their bags and left for home, “this is my favorite beach.”

Yuuri blinked at him, smiled. “Yeah, mine too.” He patted Maccachin’s head absently as the dog trotted between them. “Thank you.”

“Hm?”

“For today,” Yuuri said softly, not looking at him.

Victor could see his cheeks red from the sun and his blush, and smiled. “I had a lot of fun.”

“I feel like you’ve done so much for me already, and I haven’t been able to do anything for you,” he continued. Victor frowned, but Yuuri’s expression was peaceful and resolute, not troubled, and he kept quiet. “I know I’ve kept you waiting for a long time, and I know I’m still not sure about a lot of things, but I promise that my—our programs will show everybody what you mean to me.”

“I look forward to it,” Victor said gently, heart so full and warm for love of him.

Yuuri was amazing.

Even when he didn’t see it all clearly, or understand everything completely, he was unafraid of giving voice to what’s in his heart. He wasn’t afraid to stand wavering in front of the world, with all his flaws and uncertainties in full display.

“Shall we have katsudon tonight?” he said instead, smiling widely.

Yuuri boggled at him, eyes bright. “Eh? Really?”

“Sure! But tomorrow you’ll have to work extra, extra hard, okay?” Victor said, slinging an arm around him.

Yuuri was wrong: in their relationship, Victor has received a lot more from Yuuri than the other way around. Yuuri didn’t know it yet, but he had given Victor back something that he hadn’t even known he had lost.

Suddenly Victor wished he had more time, wished this beautiful summer would never end. He wasn’t ready to share Yuuri—this Yuuri, _his_ Yuuri—with the world. Not yet.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Inspirational (Prototype)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8789134) by [GuyBlackhand](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuyBlackhand/pseuds/GuyBlackhand)




End file.
